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AANAPISIs

Facts and figures related to AANAPISIs.

The federal Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) program provides discretionary grants to eligible institutions of higher education to enable them to improve their academic quality, increase their self-sufficiency and strengthen their capacity to make a substantial contribution to the higher education resources of the nation. To be eligible for AANAPISI status, an institution must have an enrollment of undergraduate students that is at least 10 percent Asian American or Native American Pacific Islander. Additionally, a school needs to demonstrate that at least half of its students have financial need.

AANAPISI grants average between $300,000 to $350,000 per year for five years for a maximum of $1,750,000 and encourage schools to provide extra student support services, develop summer bridge programs between two-year and four-year colleges and universities, strengthen advising and academic support, provide professional development to faculty, develop smart classrooms and implement other technical enhancements to classrooms. AANAPISIs were authorized by the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, which gave eligible institutions access to limited federal funds. In 2011, AANAPISIs were incorporated into Title III of the Higher Education Act and were officially added to the list of minority-serving institutions.

In fiscal year 2016, 14 institutions received AANAPISI grants from the U.S. Department of Education. A list is available here.

Enrollment/Demographics

Though AANAPISIs up only 8 percent of all degree granting institutions, they enrolled 49 percent of all Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) undergraduate students.

AANAPISIs tend to have a diverse student body. AAPI represented 24 percent of the two-year AANAPISI population in 2012. The remaining AANAPISI student population included Hispanic (23 percent), African American (11 percent), White (29 percent) and American Indian/Native Alaskan (1 percent) students.

55 percent of AANAPISIs were two-year institutions in 2012. These institutions conferred 40 percent of all associate’s degrees awarded to AAPI students in that year.

Most AANAPISIs are located in the West or Southwest, with California, home to the largest Asian population in the United States, having the most AANAPISIs.

Growth

The AAPI community is one of the fastest growing populations in the United States.

The current AAPI population is about 37 million in the United States and it is projected to double by 2040.

Given the rapid increase in the Asian American population, AANAPISI eligibility is also rising quickly.

There are 281 institutions eligible to be designated as AANAPISIs, an increase from 153 institutions in 2012 and 116 institutions in 2008.

About 10 percent of eligible AANAPISIs (27 institutions out of the 281 eligible institutions) receive funding.

Many AANAPISIs also serve large percentages of Latino students, and therefore also apply to receive funding designated for Hispanic Serving Institutions.[i]

[i]An institution of higher education (IHE) may have a Title V, Part A, Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) grant and a Title III, Part F, AANAPISI grant simultaneously. An institution may not have a Title V, Part A and Title III, Part A simultaneously. An institution can have any Title III, Part F grants simultaneously.